The Accessor Winter 2025 Web - Flipbook - Page 22
JOURNAL
TECHNICAL
Dean Lander, Head of Repair Sector
Services at Thatcham Research.
Safety is one of the VRR's 昀椀ve pillars of assessment.
Safety is one of the VRR's 昀椀ve pillars of assessment.
All new cars and vans in the UK will be put through the
Vehicle Risk Rating with a dual rating period in place
alongside the existing Group Rating until Spring 2026.
All new cars and vans in the UK will be put
through the Vehicle Risk Rating with a dual
rating period in place alongside the existing
Group Rating until Spring 2026.
RISK IN FOCUS:
A NEW APPROACH TO
REPAIR AND INSURANCE
The current 1-50 Group Rating system, which assesses vehicle risk based on 125 vehicle
attributes, is being replaced by a more advanced and dynamic 昀椀ve assessment based
Vehicle Risk Rating model. Dean Lander, Head of Repair Sector Services at Thatcham
Research, tells Auto Body Professional about the thinking behind the new system and
the merits it will bring to the industry.
mid the revolution in
vehicle technology, the
repair industry needs
innovative solutions to
handle more complex
and costlier work昀氀ows with certainty.
That’s why Thatcham Research has now
unveiled a new system for vehicle risk
assessment, Vehicle Risk Rating (VRR),
with a laser focus on repairability.
A
VRR represents a great leap forward
from Group Rating, which we have
administered for the past 25 years. The
new system has been several years
in the making and won’t just improve
the accuracy of vehicle insurability
assessments, it also compels Vehicle
Manufacturers (VMs) to build in
repairability at the design stage.
It’s time to move on from Group
Rating
Focus on the cost and methods of
repair in the Group Rating system
was falling short of assessing the true
impact of the repair strategy for each
vehicle.
The growing complexity of
components – from Advanced Driver
Assistance Systems (ADAS) to High
Voltage batteries – is a major driver
of the change we’re making. Inability
to correctly identify the components
and systems that require repair,
replacement, and reinstatement after
a collision means a vehicle’s safe
return to the road could be delayed,
increasing the cost of a claim and the
customer’s frustration.
That’s why Repairability has been made
one of VRR’s 昀椀ve pillars of assessment,
which together provide a holistic
risk pro昀椀le for every vehicle that we
examine.
price and the impact of modern
powertrains.
• Damageability – Examines the
in昀氀uence of design, materials and
construction technique on damage
severity and repair costs.
• Repairability – Assesses repair
strategy for transparency and
accessibility, including cost of parts.
• Safety – Analyses relevant attributes
including crash avoidance systems
and kerb weight to highlight active
safety pro昀椀le.
• Security – Leverages Thatcham
Research’s New Vehicle Security
Assessment to consider physical and
digital security features.
Each of these 昀椀ve components are
scored on a scale of 1 to 99 so insurers
gain granular understanding of risk.
This is used to provide more accurate,
individualised insurance premiums for
consumers. Crucially, ratings will now
be dynamic, re昀氀ecting, for example,
emerging theft trends and Over-the-Air
updates to ADAS.
While the Group Rating system served
underwriters well for a quarter of
a century, it became clear that an
improved framework was required
to re昀氀ect the fast-changing nature of
vehicle technology.
• Performance – Evaluation of
vehicle characteristics that include
acceleration and top speed, list
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THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL | WINTER 2025 | www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor
The assessments in full are:
